Curtain Fire Chronicles
by Surenu
Summary: The U.S. Government sends their very best operator from the Special Activities Division into a parallel world known as "Gensokyo" to stop the plans of an evil terrorist. How will our twisted hero react? OCx?
1. Chapter 1  The One They Call Hunter

**Curtain Fire**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Touhou or any other licensed content._ Second 'fic, I'm still in the biz'. Nice to see you guys again!

I'll say this right at the start: This is my story, so basically everything stated here is not to be taken canon. Seriously, I'm prone to writing total nonsense!

**Report 001 - The One They Call Hunter**

Yeah, right. Say again?

Oh, I'm sorry. You probably don't know why I just said that. Time for a flashback I guess.

Eighteen hours prior.

I'm in my bed, next to me the perhaps most beautiful woman alive. She must be as drunk as she said or she wouldn't be here with loser-me. However, I don't care much about her curves because my cellphone rings.

Not the ordinary one. The cellphone which is ringing is the one for the Pentagon.

This is going to be one hell of a morning. I pick it up and press the button for answering the call.

"Yes? I might want to remind you, it's fricking 3o'clock in the fricking morning. Whaddaya want?" I mumble half asleep.

A womans voice answers, and I immediately sit straight. This is...

"Nineteen. Fourteen. X-Ray. Charlie. Bravo. Delta. Ninety-Nine."

...what I've feared the most.

The call to a suicide mission.

I rush from my bed to my drawer and quickly grab anything to wear. The room is big, yes, but not comfortable. I've got lots of drawers, but most of them contain computers full of sensitive harddrives; harddrives that can easily influence history. Harddrives which can provoke and prevent an all-scale nuclear war.

Yeah, you guessed it, I'm not just your innocent bystander.

After I get dressed I get my boots and uniform jacket (behold, for I have three Purple Hearts, a Distinguished Service Medal and a Medal Of Honor. At the age of 20.)

"One Three Three Seven. I authenticate. Talk to me, Pentagon." I finally answer the repeating voice on my a stupid code.

"We have a situation." Comes the distorted voice. It sounds as if it's been pitched down by one of those yout*be-poopers. "Come here immediately. Presidential order."

I leave the blonde beauty behind in my bed (oh, how much fun could we have had ~) and get to my car, ignoring her protests. This sounds...

...bad.

What could it be? 'Nam's over. No more threat from there. Russia? No. Just..no. Pakistan? Hell, that's gotta be one hell of a nuke if they call me! Same with North Korea... China... what the hell?

A few minutes later. Washingtons traffic is amazing, but I know my way around.

The Pentagon... I've almost forgotten it's beauty. This is where mankinds fate has been decided more than one time. If it weren't for the pentagon... I'd be speaking russian. The doorguard salutes me; he knows me very well. 1027 confirmed kills, and, if my counts are correct, 2047 unconfirmed kills. I'm not one to fuck with. I'd kill ya for a Klondike-Bar.

"Good evening, sir!" he says.

"Stand at ease." I reply. It's the same every time I go here.

I walk through the main entrance hall, showing my ID to the lovely lady behind the counter. All she does in response is whispering "VIP" into her mic.

It's the same as always.

After a few more VIP-whispering robots (Not real robots; I refer to them as such because I never see them leading a real life) I'm in the _inner_ inner sanctum. The inner sanctum has saved mankind more than once. The _inner_ inner sanctum, however, didn't bother with such low tasks. It was up to the _inner_ inner sanctum to save planet earth as a whole.

I'm sitting down at the big table in the middle. I see a couple of papers piled up in front of my seat, but as long as noone sits with me, I won't care. Who knows, this might just be a test, and everyone knows what happens if I even touch those papers... Hint: it involes a 9mm Parabellum bullet and my head.

The door opens. I'll just sit for now.  
Holy s...is that the...

I stand up and walk up to the person, my right hand extended for a formal greeting "It's an honor Mr. President." I say as the mightiest man on earth shakes my hand.

"Please, have a seat." he answers and orders me to a place directly in front of the pile of papers. Behind me are some clocks, showing the current Washington D.C. time and the time in Moscow, Baghdad, Shanghai and Pyongyang. "Do you know why I have called you here today?"

"Sorry, I do not know Mr. President." Damnit. If the president personally asks someone to do something for him it's gotta be serious. He hands me a dossier that has TOP SECRET written on it. "Please, read it." the president tells me, and I do so.

The first thing that catches my eye is a photo of a man in a dark grey leather coat and camo pants. He's bald and has a pretty impressive beard. On this particular photo, it seems like he's executing someone with a high-caliber handgun. At least that's what that red cloud tells me.

Igor Wolkow, age 45, nationality is Belarusian. I recognize him now, he's amongst our real top-wanted list. Belarus wants him too, I remember I've worked together with their secret service for some months to get him. But he's just like an octopus, if there's a chance to escape, he does. And he's damn good at it. Judging from this dossier he's a mad scientist and a degenerate prodigy, psychotic narcissist and absolutely crazy. Loyal member of the nationalist party, always looking for a new weapon to cause havoc in the west and Belarus itself.

To sum it up, he's a target.

"When do I kill him?" I ask the president.

"As soon as possible." he answers. "We know his approximate location, but... it's not a place which can be reached by conventional means. However, we have arranged a transport for you."

"Thank you Mr. President. When do I begin?"

"Immediately."

A boring flight later I arrive in Tokyo, Japan. The airport's crowded with all kinds of people, but I guess my uniform makes me stick out. I make my way through this ocean of civilians as fast as possible, but it still takes time to even get to the street. I look for a specific taxi, or rather a specific license plate. There it is. I knock at the drivers door and say "Phoenix. I authenticate.", as to which the driver answers "Get in, we're late.". It's a pretty simple system, but it works - hide a code in a license plate of a taxi, tell it to your guys and they'll get to all your funny little secret research facilities without any further problems.

We drive through the crowded streets and talk about random nonsense to kill time. He tells me about his family - his wife, his two kids. I'm not entirely sure if that's true or just a fake identity. I don't really care though. When this is done I'll probably never see this guy again.

Suddenly, the car stops in front of a bus station. "I'm sorry, Sir. We'll fetch two more persons at this point; they are vital for the mission."

Ah, now you're just the same emotionless secret service robot again. Great.

Two girls walk up to our car and open the back doors. One is blonde, has a purple dress and a mob cap, while the other one is a striking brunette with a black hat and tie, a white shirt, a brown skirt and some kind of bands around her sleeves. "Mind if I introduce?" the taxi-driver says. "Ms. Maribel Han" he points to the blonde "and Ms. Renko Usami." "_Konnichi-wa_"I greet them in fluent japanese.

"And who is he?" Renko asks. She seems kind of tomboyish to me, but that's not a bad thing I suppose. I like it when women can stand up for themselves. The taxi driver wants to start an answer, but I'm quicker this time. "Jonathan Marcus my name, callsign's Hunter. I suppose I'll be either your intelligence- or combat operator in this mission, although I do not know any details yet. Nice to meet you."

"Well, you know our names. We've arranged your support and will be overseeing the transfer. It's quite a complicated operation because..."

And that's where she lost me. They must be the technicians, and I know technicians. They like to explain and use lots of complicated technical terms. I sometimes hear words I cannot quite classify, such as "Gensokyo", "Hakurei Border" and other stuff. I assume they're just those stupid names those inventors like to give their inventions, and the Hakurei Border sounds an awful lot like a minefield. As soon as she's done I simply answer "I see. Sounds interesting."

"Where there." The taxi driver says. I get out of the car and open the doors for the ladies – I'm a natural gentleman. In front of us is what seems to be a run down storage building, probably built in the 60's and abandoned in the 70's. Several windows are broken, and it looks like several generations of sprayers had learned to love this building. The floor in front of it is littered with used needles and broken bottles, so it seems we also have some addicts and homeless here. I know they're dangerous, so I cock my custom made M1911A2 .45ACP self loading pistol. We walk up to the large door at the far side of the building. Next to the rusty door is a surprisingly unharmed numpad. Renko, if I recall her name correctly, quickly enters a number sequence and the rusty doors slide open with the typical rustling of old, old metal.

What I see insides amazes me to the fullest - the interior is entirely clean. There are workstations with flat monitors scattered everywhere, and the people working on them look like scientists in their clean white coats. Cables run through all of the place, often forcing people to take detours when on their way to the coffee machine. In the middle of the room is something big, hidden under the typical white blanket. However, because I'm still tired I go to the coffee machine first, and the two girls follow me. I get myself a cup of black coffee, no milk but lots of sugar. There's no better legal substance than this to wake up yourself. Renko hands me a key and points to a group of lockers at the far end of the hall. "Gear up, take what you need. We'll start soon. When you're done with the lockers, come back here and we'll tell you what your mission is."

And so I do. I find the lockers after a quick search and open them. I see loads of equipment, all of which seems useful. For a pistol, I'll stick to my M1911, but I take three extra magazines with me. I put them in the corresponding bags in my belt. For a main weapon I can't quite decide between an assault rifle or a lightweight sniper rifle. On the other hand, the M40 can be disassembled quite easily so I simply take that and my beloved FN-SCAR assault rifle. Six magazines each on a bandolier. I attach a foregrip to my SCAR and a bipod to my M40 for increased accuracy. For explosives, I take 3 frag grenades, 2 flashbangs and a pack of C4 just to be safe. M7 bayonet knife to round it up. Comfortable camo clothing. A backpack with food, extra clothing, a compass, radio, ropes, climbing equipment and a lot of other useful things on my back. I'm done, and I walk straight back to the girls at the coffee machine. My gear weighs about 140 pounds now. "Alright." I say. "What's my mission?"

Renko takes a seat, clears her throat and starts to talk. "The U.S. government hired us to build this machine under the blanket there. You see, your enemy, Igor Wolkow, possesses something similar. Think of it as a gate or portal. Have you heard of the theory of parallel worlds?" I did, yeah, and therefore I nod. "We found out that it's true. This machine allows you to set foot on this world. It has happened before that people got accidently sucked in there, and some made it back. This machine however enables us to controll this process. We've tested it already, so don't worry. Nine out of ten test subjects came back. That said, Wolkow has apparently fled to this parallel world - we refer to it by its name Gensokyo - with some of his peers. We believe he's searching for a new weapon there, and it's your task to find and destroy it and, if possible, bring Wolkow back alive for interrogation. If that's not possible you're allowed to kill him. You are also allowed to achieve the objective in any way you see fit, be it a silent assasination or a long-scale guerilla war with help from the locals. That said, we advise you to do the last, since we know that at least some of the locals are quite..powerful."

Yeah. Right. Say again?

"How about support from...well... our world?" I'm just letting the soldier in me do the job now; no real use asking questions here.

"Hardly possible."

"Great."

"That said, we need to get this started now. This machine uses up a lot of electricity, and if we don't act soon, the condensators will blow up, blasting the whole area to smithereens."

Some scientists pull off the blanket from the machine. It appears to me as...

"An elevator with a chair in it?" I ask.

"It may look like it. Please, take a seat. Place your backpack on your knees. Think of something nice."

Oh my. Whenever someone tells me to think of something nice, I imagine horrible things. I sit down on the chair, shaking. I'm afraid now, but fear is your good friend. Someone who's afraid won't let his guard down. I put my backpack on my lap as I've been instructed and try to think of something nice... doesn't work, oh well.

Renko walks up to one of the workstations and takes a microphone. "Ladies and Gentlemen, please step back from the Gate. Mr. Nakamura, system check."

"All systems green and ready to go." comes the answer. The doors close. "Begin!" I hear Renkos voice through the metal walls.

A layer of lightings covers the walls, and I must restrain myself from rushing out. It'd probably kill me. The sound they make sounds like static.

"Mr. Nakamura, location and coordinates please."

"We'll send him to the forst for acclimatisation first. It'd suck if he started a massacre in the village. Coordinates are locked, target is reset. Yes... Yes we've got a tunnel."

"Increasing intensity."

The lightnings get more and more intense, and some actually start hitting me now. It doesn't hurt, it just feels...weird. As I look at my body, I see that I'm...

Sweet mother of all that's holy!

I'm.. getting transparent!

I just hope they know what they're doing.

ZAP.


	2. Chapter 2  Hitting Dirt

**Curtain Fire**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Touhou or any other licensed content._ When all else fails, I simply write.

**Report 002 - Hitting Dirt**

From the looks of it, I'm laying face-down in mud. I don't see anything, but I can feel leaves and roots around me with my hands. My whole body hurts and my head feels like I just drank a years worth of whisky - everything's turning and turning, and I don't get a clear thought.

I slowly stand up and look around. I'm in what appears to be a normal forest. Well, it's a forest most likely located in a parallel world, but hell, it's a forest. Trees, leaves, mushrooms. Nothing special here. But still, it's a beautiful sight, so I forget everything else and simply watch for now. This forest has a... transcendental beauty so to speak. Something not quite graspable by the human mind. My instincts tell me that this place is dangerous, but still, despite all the possible hazard, it's a beautiful place. Nothing like the forests back home.

Anyways, I've hit dirt (that means I'm here), so I guess it's time to make a report... but... how? I take out the radio for startes and simply push the "send" button on it. "HQ, HQ, this is Hunter. Copy? I repeat, do you copy? Over." Nothing, just static. I try a few other frequencies, but then give up. If they had wanted me to contact them they'd have given me a frequencie anyway.

I grab my gear and look around again. My mind is a little clearer now, and I can see past the beauty of this forest. I need to get to an elevated position from where I can see pretty far, so I can know my way around here. Upon further investigation, I see a small path through this otherwise dense forest. I walk up to it and flip a coin. I see. The coin tells me to go left, and therefore I do it. I never trusted my luck, but when all else fails I must just rely on it, there's no choice. With my heavy, heavy stuff I walk down the muddy path. Great. Now it starts to rain, too. Should have brought an umbrella or something. Oh well, I've walked through worse weather. Ever piloted a burning helicopter through a thunderstorm with your left arm paralysed? That's fun.

Wait a minute.

WHOHAH  
WHAT THE HELL

My instincts acted before my brain, and therefore I dodged the attack soon enough. It was a close call though. I roll a few meters, then get up and grab my rifle, aiming through the sights. What I see is... weird. In front of me is a giant venus fly trap. Well, at least it looks like it. It's moving and has just tried to eat me! What is this place? Why is a freaking plant trying to eat me? And why is such a thing growing on a path? What's going on here? Is that what Wolkow is looking for? Plant monsters?

Anyway, I'm never going to get anywhere with this mischievous daisy around. Despite it's obvious strength and speed, I've got the upper hand, simply because it can't move. I can though, and because of that I place myself just outside it's range, still shaking from the shock and fear. A plant.. I was almost killed by a plant.

So I'm out of its reach, but what now? I've never been a gardener in a parallel world, so I don't really know what's bad for this plant. I guess I'll have to just try then. Since I don't know where and if it has organs shooting it will probably be useless. Therefore, this calls for a more radical solution.

I pull out the pin on one of my frag grenades and look at the beast. "Open your mouth, come on, open it wide up and try to eat me." I whisper to it and extend the hand holding the grenade. I've got my thumb on the safety pin, so the fuse is not triggered unless I let go of it.

Just as I planned, the beast tries to rip my arm clean off and devour it, but I quickly step back and throw the grenade into it's mouth and run a few meters into the opposite direction. After 3 seconds I turn around to watch the spectacle.

"Hmm? Is that tasty you freaky plant?" I shout towards it as the grenade goes off and splatters plant parts all around the place. That's one awesome way of making salad I guess.

But still...

What in the world was this thing? What is this world?

I've been to scary places, yes. But this forest gets the cake. Anyways, I must go on before night falls, for I do not wish to be in this forest at night. But instead of walking, I simply run now. I want to get out of here, now.

I run until my lungs feel sore. I run until my feet hurt like I dipped them in sulfuric acid.

And then, I run some more.

There's light over there! Light! Light means people. People can mean anything right now... friend or foe. Because of this, I take out my binoculars and watch the source for now. What I see is a house covered in iny and surrounded by the omnipresent trees. What I can see through the window is probably the messiest room I've seen in my entire life. Boxes and other things of which I don't know the name or purpose are taking most of the space inside the house, so I wonder if that's just a storage room.

But stop, there's someone in there... a girl as it seems. She's wearing a black and white frock and a witches hat. Is she a little crazy, or is that the local fashion? However, she appears to be unarmed so I think I'll just knock the door and ask her.

Knock Knock.

"Eh? Who's there, ze?" comes the voice out of the house. She sounds a little... weird I'd say.

"My name's Jonathan Marcus. I'm lost in the woods and I'd like to ask for assistance." Hey, I'm not lying here. And I'm not afraid to accept defeat.

"Hold on, ze~" What the hell does 'ze' mean? I'm fluent in my japanese, but when it comes to slang words such as this, I'm just as lost as I'm lost in this forest. Anyway, I holster my rifle and hear the door getting unlocked from the inside. It's good to look harmless in such a situation.

This blonde girl with the witches hat is shorter than I expected, but she doesn't look weak for some reasons. I bow as a greeting. "So, Jonathan." she says. "You got lost, ze?"

"Indeed, I got lost. I just recently arrived... here and got attacked by... some... thing on my way. Could you maybe please describe me the way to the nearest settlement?"

"Eh? So you're... from the outside world, ze?" She asks me. Outside world? Is that how they refer to... my world? Well, I suppose so.

"You can put it like that, yes." I answer. "Come in, ze." she orders me and pulls me inside her mansion. Looking at it from inside, it is in fact the messiest place I've ever seen. There's even stuff on the ground, so I have to watch where I'm going or I'll destroy something and be made to pay it with money I do not have. She, however, seems to know exactly where she has her stuff and walks souvereignly to another room which is a little less messy. Which means I can see the furniture. The objects lying around look plain weird to me. Books that look like they're hundreds of years old, some melee weapons such as swords and halberds, assorted remnants of things that perhaps used to be alive, plates, cups and things I do in fact recognise, for example a cellphone and a small Moai-sculpture. We sit down in front of a fireplace. "What'cha doin' here in Gensokyo, ze?" she asks me. I wonder, why is her language so... impolite? "I'm afraid I can't really tell. It's secret. You could say I'm a hunter. By the way, what might be your name, Miss?" I answer trying to overcome her impoliteness with my politeness. Wonder if that works, heh.

"Name's Marisa, ze. Apparently you're not the only one who's come from the outside world this week, ze. There was this baldie with the beard, ze." She says while pointing her finger at the fireplace and... wait, what?

It started burning. Burning as if it had been lit hours ago. "Wait, what, what, how did you just do that?" I ask dumbfounded. Is this...

"Magic, ze." she answers as if that's the most normal thing in the world.

That gets me thinking, I'm still thinking in the rules of my world. Perhaps... in here, this is in fact the most normal thing in the world? "So, whaddaya know 'bout that baldie, ze?" she asks me. I suppose she can be useful, so I forget my confusion about magic and this world for a second and decide to answer as honestly as possible. "He's my prey so to speak. A terrorist. Probably looking for some kind of weapon to use in the... 'outside world' you call it."

"So he's ye enemy, ze." she says and pauses for a moment to look into the fire. "Good. I'll help ya."

Ah, yes, that's good. I've found an ally. I don't know if she's useful or not, but I guess so. At least she might know her way around here. "So, can you show me the way to the nearest settlement?" I ask her. "Yeah, ze. The Human Village is pretty close, and it's basically the only one in here, ze. I'll take ya there tomorrow. We'll talk to my friend Reimu and see if she can help ya."

"Thank you!" I say and I mean it. I've had no idea that something like that'd happen when I signed up for 'special usage' of my skills... "Well." I continue. "I'll go outside and set up my tent if that's okay."

"Yeah, yeah, ze. See ya." she waves me off and I go outside, cross the path and set up a tent. It's a typical army tent made out of thermoactive fabric, so it maintains a comfortable temperature inside. It's waterproof so the rain won't bother me anymore. My clothes are soaked though, so I change in my tent and put the wet uniform in my backpack. I'll dry it as soon as I find a dry place.

I actually like rain. I like how it cleans the air around you. I like the feeling of those small drops on your skin. Makes me feel alive. But in this world, the air is clean already. And I don't want to catch a cold. I also take out my gas cooker and some of my food rations, mostly water and rice. I then proceed to cook some rice while watching for the flame not to burn down my tent and devour the meal afterwoods. I've only noticed now, but I'm damned hungry.

And after this and a few other things, such as setting up a few warning traps, I finally allow myself to sleep.

The next morning. I wake up in my clothes and start packing up my gear again. It's all handfolds I've done thousands of times, so it goes quite quickly. After I packed everything up I destroy any evidence I've ever been there. If Wolkow knows I'm in this... Gensokyo, I shouldn't show him where exactly I am. After this is also done, I walk up to Marisas house and knock on the door.

...to no avail though. I go around the house and still do not find her. Has she forgotten about me? Looking through the windows, I can see no signs of a fight, so I guess that she has, in fact, forgotten.

Stupid.

Upon further investigation of the surroundings, I spot another house nearby. It looks a lot cleaner, even from here. It's not covered in ivy and doesn't have that dirty color. I walk up to it and knock on the door. The person who opens the door has orange eyes, short blond hair and carries a large black book, and a small red-clothed doll. She wears a light blue dress with pink ribbons and a red ribbon in her hair. "Yes?" she asks.

"My name is Jonathan Marcus. Your neighbour Marisa promised me to show me the way to the nearest settlement today, but apparently she forgot and went somewhere else. Can you tell me which way to go?"

"Ah, my name is Alice Margatroid." Weird name, but, hey, my name must seem just as weird to her. "Yes, that sounds very much like Marisa. I can walk the way with you, for I wanted to go there myself. Is that okay with you?"

"Yes indeed it is." That way I don't get lost.

And so we start walking. The rain still has not stopped, so Alice took an umbrella with her. I'm keeping a distance between us. Not that I dislike her, but it's sort of my nature not to feel comfortable with someone close to me when I'm not absolutely sure I won't get stabbed. I wonder what those dolls are for. Judging from her sharp eyes, she's way beyond the mental age to play with dolls anyway. Could she be...

"A mage? That is correct Mr. Marcus." she suddenly says as if she's read my thoughts. "I use my magic to control those dolls as a means of attack. But I wish you no harm so you can rest assured."

It's not that I don't trust you. It's just that I don't really trust anyone.

But the landscape around here is truly amazing. It's so wild and natural, and yet it looks like it's constantly changing. After we leave the forest, I can see great plains and, in the far, a village. We pass by a building that looks like a mix between a shop and a warehouse. I'll have to check it out later.

After about two hours of walking and nonsense talk (honestly, I didn't really find out anything about this world. Is she doing this on purpose?) we've reached the gate of the human village. It's wide open, so I assume they hardly, if ever, have any hostile contacts. What I see is a medium-sized village with old japanese architecture. There is a shrine on a hill to the east, which looks a little run-down even from here.

The people around here are.. mostly normal. They look like normal humans and wear traditional japanese clothing. Others however are quite... different. I see a very short, orange-haired girl with horns (yeah, you heard me right. Horns. I don't even bother asking if they're real. In this world, everything seems possible) and a giant sake gourd. She looks drunk so I'll try not to get close to her. Drunken people are dangerous, even if unarmed, and if the first thing I do in this village is to pick a fight, Wolkow will probably know what's going on.

Yes, I'm thinking in a hunterish way again.

"So, this is the village. I'll be off for my business then." Alice says and walks off into the crowd. Well, at least I got here. I wonder what the currency here is. I'll need to find a place to stay now, because camping all the time won't do me any good and I guess I have to be at full alert 24/7. Bombardeer to your station...

The question is, how do I find Wolkow? Might as well get a job here and earn some money, and while I'm doing this, listen around if someone has heard of him.

Suddenly, I hear a female voice behind me...

"Hey, you, over there. Looking for a job?"

I suppose that this is my lucky day.

Well...


	3. Chapter 3 Cultural Factors

**Curtain Fire**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Touhou or any other licensed content._ School starts tomorrow, so please bear with less updating-frequency.

**Report 003 - Cultural Factors**

In front of me stands yet another girl. Weird demographics, everyone looks pretty young and I've seen only few males. Perhaps this area suffered a big war where all the males fell?

Anyways, the girl in front of me has brown eyes and long silver hair. She wears a hat that looks like some kind of building with a red ribbon on top and glyphs inscribed along its side. Her dress is dark blue with white short sleeves, and a red ribbon is tied to the bottom of the collar. Despite her head, she doesn't look that weird. That is, not that weird compared to what I've seen in Gensokyo already.

"Yeah, I'm looking for work. Any ideas?" I ask her.

"Indeed. I need somebody to do an errand for me. It's simple, but I'll pay you." she answers. She really does look a little stressed. Perhaps she just has a stressy job. Or rather, one she thinks is stressy. Three days without a single hour of sleep under omnipresent suppressing fire, _that's_ stressy.

"I'm in. What do you want delivered? By the way, my name is Jonathan Marcus, nice to meet you." It's always been good to be polite to someone who doesn't seem to mean harm to you.

"I'm Keine Kamishirasawa, nice to meet you too. It's about this book." She hands me a small bag with what seems to be a book inside of it. "I borrowed it from Patchouli, and since I don't need it anymore, I'd like you to deliver it back to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Pay's 100 Mon. You can take your time if you want to, but please get it done this week."

I take the bag and say "Alright. Can you tell me which way to go please?"

"What?" Keine asks in a surprised tone. "You don't even know where the Scarlet Devil Mansion is? Did you spend the last 400 years under a rock?"

"No, I did not." I answer, a little annoyed by her tone. They don't seem to have outsiders here often. "I spent the last 20 years in what you call the outside world."

"Ah." She seems to understand now. "Sorry for jumping at you like that, I didn't know that. Anyways, you simply follow the road on the other side of town to the mountain, but do not climb the mountain. Instead, there should be a lake. We call it Misty Lake because it's, well, yeah it's pretty misty. In the middle of that lake there is an island and on that island is the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Watch out for the fairies, there are some especially dumb ones around there."

Wait a minute... fairies? What the.. no, wait. I'm still thinking in my old ways. I must adapt to the new situations. Note to self: Fairies appear to be real here, and they seem to be dangerous and/or annoying. "So, fairies, right? Do they have any strength and weaknesses?" I ask her. "Well, yeah. A single fairy is harmless but watch out if they swarm you. They're mostly playing around, so if you can amuse them they'll like you and maybe even help you."

I suddenly have an idea. An awesome idea. Those... fairies... I wonder what their true combat ability is. If I can get them to join my ranks, I may have an air force should they be able of flight! But for now...

"Is there anything about that Scarlet Devil Mansion I should know?" I continue to ask questions, and Keine answers them like a teacher. Perhaps she even is one. She somehow reminds me of my teacher in grade school, although my grade school teacher wasn't nearly as pretty.

"Yeah, especially you as a human should know. Once you're there, don't spend too much time there. The owner is, well, yeah a vampire. The maid is highly dangerous as well, so I suggest you keep your manners. The librarian, Patchouli is okay though, and she'll immediately like you as soon as you return her book. Few people ever do that."

Whoha. A vampire? That sounds dangerous. I need a cross and a stake, just to be safe. Although... if they, too, would join my army... Wolkow would have no chance! What Renko told me was right. I should really get the locals to form a militia against Wolkow.

"Thanks for the advice. I'll look around the village for now for I have just arrived here and then deliver your package. After that, I'll return to your for my pay. Say, where can I usually find you?"

"Do you see that building over there?" She says and points to a traditional japanese house with kids playing in front of it. I smirk a bit, because there's one boy that reminds me of myself during that age - silent, not talkative, a loner. I wonder if he'll grow up to be a good man. I hope so. "That's a school, right?" I ask. "Indeed." I was right! "I teach the local children here and live directly above it. So you'll usually find me there. If you have any questions about the Human Village and Gensokyo, you can ask me if you'd like. At least then someone listens to my teachings. Anyway, I will be off now, I've got a full load of work. See you later, don't get killed." She waves and goes off.

Hey, she's nice. A friendly girl, teaching the local kids and offering me advice. Perhaps that advice is what I wanted in the first place. And so I go through the various streets and alleys of this village, seeing the diverse shops and people around here. As long as I have money I won't starve, that's for sure. If I completeley run out of ammunition I'll be mostly defenseless though, since the only weaponry for sale is middle-ages weaponry such as swords and bows, the few weapons I have never learned the use of. I can handle a crossbow though, so if I find one everything is fine.

Absorbed in my thoughts, I accidently run into someone and, judging from the sound, that someone is a girl and has just hit the ground at non-terminal velocity. "Oh, I'm sorry I'm sorry!" I immediately apologize and help her up. She seems to be a part of the local clerus, for she wears a red and white dress with detached sleeves, sort of similar to those of japanese shrine maidens. She seems to take good care of her long black hair, which has a ribbon tied into it. She also carries one of those rods called... yeah, what was it called? Gohan? Gohei? Yeah, I think it was a gohei.

After I help her up she dusts down her clothes. "I'm really sorry. I was sort of absorbed by the moment and didn't watch where I was going. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just watch where you're goin'.." she says in an annoyed tone. Doesn't seem so holy to me. "By the way... you don't look familiar." She looks at me as if she was testing me. Judging from the fact that my clothes are not entirely clean and that I'm armed to the teeth, I wouldn't be surprise if I make a bad first impression on her. "Are you new to Gensokyo?"

"Yeah, I am." I answer, surprised that she got it right on first try. "How did you know?"

"First of all my intuition. Then, you carry lots and lots of items from the outside world, including those long things on your back I have never seen before. What are those?"

"Those are a FN SCAR assault rifle and an M40 sniper rifle. They're firearms."

"Ah, weapons. Never used those, I have my danmaku, but, oh well, beggars can't be choosers, right?"

What the hell is danmaku? Some kind of weapon?

"My name's Reimu Hakurei. I'm the local shrine maiden of that shrine on that hill. I know it looks run down, but that's because everyone just comes to mooch off me and never leave a donation."

She looks a little frustrated as she says that.

"A shrine, huh?" I've never been religious. I respect faith and the people who have faith, but I've never had that faith myself. "Say... are there any gods in Gensokyo?"

"Yeah, there are." She answers. "But most of them are an annoying bunch so you better stay out of their way."

Now... that's quite the answer I expected the least. Oh well... this whole world is what I expected the least. "Anyway, I'll be off now. If you want to, you can visit me from time to time in the shrine. Might help you to get to know this world better. You also have a pretty good view from up there, meaning you can see most of Gensokyo." she says and walks off. That sounds good. From that point of view, I can easily make myself a rough map of this place in my mind. Also, an elevated position is easier to defend so when the shit ever hits the fan, I know where to go now. Very good. Thank you Ms. Hakurei!

Wait a minute... Hakurei? Wasn't there something like a Hakurei Border? Guess I'll have to ask her next time I see her.

For now I should go on my way to this Scarlet Devil Mansion and talk to some vampires. Great. I need the money though, because I think I'll be staying here longer than expected. Therefore, I should establish an at least rudimentary base of operations. So I walk out of the gate Keine told me about and enjoy the last drops of rain falling. I suppose it's currently autumn here, because it rains an awful lot. From the east, I can see a new bunch of dark clouds arriving, so it'll rain for some more time. I should have taken a raincoat with me, but I simply forgot about it. Well, at least I brought a gas mask. It appears like dead weight though, because, judging from the overall technological level I've seen by now, I doubt that anyone in here possesses chemical weaponry. That makes my job easier though, I've dealt with VX once and I do not want to encounter it again.

But I digress. The path is lined with small groups of trees and bushes, and I walk pretty quickly. Did I mention I like walking?

A few hours of walking without any contacts, neither friendly nor hostile, I get to a lake. It really deserves its name, for it is so misty I can hardly see the big mansion. It's dark as if there's noone living there, but if there's really vampires and that's not just a big prank, it sort of makes sense. I double-check if the book I am to deliver here is undamaged, and after I made sure it is, walk up to a bridge. It's a bridge similar to those built in the 17th and 18th century in cities like London, Paris and Venice, so I assume that's outside world least it's something I can deal with.

The bridge is long, but I've seen longer, and so I quickly make my way over it.

The mansion itself is built in fancy european style, again 17th or 18th century. It has relatively few windows for a building of that size, but this may either be a defensive measure or a nod to the owners of the place. It's surrounded by a fence that's way taller than me, so climbing it would be out of the question. One mistake, and I'll impale myself on it. On the other hand, it won't even be necessary since the gate is wide open, and in a small guardhouse next to the gate is yet another girl.

She has long scarlet hair and aqua-colored eyes, and, from what I can see, a green beret and traditional chinese clothing of the same color. A green beret? I wonder if she's as trained as the real Green Berets. However, there is a gold star on her beret so I assume she's not a real Green Beret.

"Hello?" I kindly ask. "Are you the gatekeeper here? My name's Jonathan Marcus, I'm on an errand for..."  
"Hold it, intruder!" she suddenly yells and jumps out of her little guardhouse and immediately assumes a fighting position. "What is your business here? Speak, or I shall smite thee!"

Errr... is she a moron or insane or something?

"I was just getting to that, so if you'd let me finish my..."

"Finish? I will not let thee finish thy intrusion!"

"I'M NOT EVEN TRYING TO INTRUDE!" I yell in annoyance. Goddamnit, she pisses me off already.

"Eh? Really? Why don't you say so then?" she asks me as if it wasn't her fault.

"Because you didn't let me." I answer, slowly regaining my composure and suppressing the wish to throw a flashbang at her face. "I'm here to deliver a book for a librarian called Patchouli, if I recall correctly. I was sent by Ms. Kamishirasawa to do this. Can I go to the library to deliver the book please?"

"Yeah, just go ahead and take a place in the entrance hall. Sakuya'll then bring you to the library. No go, you're boring. Thought I'd get a fight today..."

I just leave her standing. She's insane, I'm sure.

The entrance hall is dark, but classy. I can see very expensive looking pieces of furniture, so I won't sit down anywhere with my dripping dirty clothes. I also stay away from the carpet. Sometimes, I can see maids entering and leaving through the various doors. In the middle of the room, I see something like a sigil embroidered into the carpet (A/N: Please imagine Remilias sigil here, for I have no idea how to describe it).

Suddenly, I hear a voice from behind me. A childish, yet sort of threatening voice.

"Hmmm? What do we have here? A stray cat, coming to my mansion for shelter? I wonder... if that was a good idea, Stray Cat."

My hair stands on edge, and I slowly turn around. I see a little girl in a pink dress with a pink mob cap. She has red eyes and short, light blue hair. She's pretty short. And she has wings. Wings, yeah, you heard me right. Oh well, I guess that's no surprise in Gensokyo. I'll try the usual routine: Politeness, and, if that doesn't work, firepower and good running shoes. "Ah, you must be Mistress Scarlet, am I right? It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Jonathan Marcus, and I'm here on an errand for Ms. Kamishirasawa to return a book from the library of a librarian called Patchouli. I apologize for my looks, but I have walked all the way from the village to here during the rain."

She looks at me as if she's testing me. I've been looked at like this before this day. "You have good manners, Stray Cat." Wait, did she just give me that name as a nickname to tease me? Well..she may be right. I'm stray because I have no real place to stay. Also cats are natural predators...

She's getting closer. If she truly is a vampire, and the wings do look an awful lot like it, I don't want her to close in to me. On the other hand, she doesn't look hungry. At least to me who has no knowledge about vampires. "I see." She suddenly says. "Your fate looks good. Rejoice, for I shall not eat you... for now." Err. I have absolutely no idea what you just said but, well, yeah I'm happy I won't be eaten.

Another maid comes in, but she looks a little more special than the other ones so I assume she's one of the higher ups in the staff, perhaps the head maid. She has dark blue eyes, silver hair and a long braid on each side of her face, with green bows at the ends. She's wearing a pink and dark blue French maid outfit with long sleeves, the typical maid headband on her head. I wonder if she's that Sakuya I heard about. "Ah, Sakuya." Ms. Scarlet says, confirming my assumption. "Please take our guest to the library. He's a very... interesting individual and I hope to see him again. Perhaps he will entertain me better than the other visitors I sometimes get. I will go upstairs for my beauty nap."

I bow slightly to Ms. Scarlet and Sakuya as Ms. Scarlet leaves upstairs. "What might your name be?" Sakuya asks me. "My name is Jonathan Marcus." I answer. "Before you ask, yes, I am from the outside world."

"I see. Then, please follow me downstairs to the library." She says and leads me to a staircase that leads down into the basement of the mansion. It's dark, but a few torches light the hallway so I can see. It would look awfully stupid to use nightvision goggles here.

I take the bag with the book from my backpack to my hands and follow her through a labyrinth of different hallways, until we reach a _very_ big door that says "Library". "We're here." Sakuya says. "Please do not disturb Patchouli-samas work for too long. She is currently absorbed into her research, so any disturbance throws her back. I'll be waiting for you here to guide you back outside."

And so I open the door to the greatest library I have ever seen.

And I immediately see someone who has forgotten about me.


End file.
